Drag race: MMamdouh vs. Zikas

[MMamdouh]

hi guys

yesterday me and Zikas were togethr crousing arround in our cars then we decided we should have some more fun. we decided to drag race as Zikas thinks my car is a bit slow... BTW Zikas was driving his wife's car, a 2001 Lanos with 1.5 SOHC.

we started the race and right from the start Zikas started to pull away... at the end of the street he was ahead by some 2 car length, this can't be right considering the mods i have on my car compared to his car:

MMamdouh:

Removed resonator
Removed CAT
NGK dual electrode spark plugs
185/60/14 tires and steel 14" OEM wheels

Zikas:

NONE WHATSOEVER

Zikas thoiught i was not a good driver and i even thought that as well so we decided to switch cars and race again... from the first moment i was in his car i noticed it had better throttle responce and felt as if it got more torque than mine.

we started the second drag and the results were no different than the first one... Zikas' car won by 2 car length again so it is not a driver issue, also Zikas reported that my car felt slow so their is no doubt that my car got something wrong but i wonder what it is?

both cars got almost the same kms on the clock so it can't be due to that my car is older than his, also my car is well maintaned as you all know so that can't be the issue either.

we started to think about this problem and reached 2 assumptions:

1- my O2 sensor is bad and needs replacment: it is over 7 years old and done a little over 74000 kms of service, my car does run a bit rich and it is apparent in the exhaust smell of both cars... i also managed to put a little layer of smog on my 3 weeks old stailess muffler tip and the car consumes a bit more fuel than other lanoses.

2- coil pack: this is the only component that is not serviced yet and it might be the reason for the mild hesitation i got... i also noticed a mild misfire while watching the exhaust but can that be due to a too rich mixture as well??

all other parts are fairly new (spark plugs, wires, injectors, air and fuel filters, etc...) so i narrowed down to those 2 options... i don't think a faulty crank position sensor or the 30 kgm junk i have in the trunk can cause this problem.

what do you think guys? coiuld it be the O2 sensoror the coil pack causing this loss of torque?? i didn't check my timing belt to see if it is off or not but i am going to replace it after 6000 kms anyways so it will be a good chance to check but mean while i need your suggestions to help me sort this out... it is really frustrating.

MMamdouh

[woo]

i found my leganza was slower (we did many timed test runs to 100, albeit slightly downhill, not much though) with the cone filter on it then with stock airbox without the bottom resonator on it. average times were 11.5 with the cone, and the average times were 10.7 with the box

[MMamdouh]

you mean the stock airbox/resonator setup actually made the car faster??

MMamdouh

[JohnnyC]

Maybe it has to do with some kind of air pressure or something. This is an interesting thread already.

Do you have different wheels then he did? If your wheels are heavier then his, perhaps you're losing some of your torque there?

Also... does he use a different octane fuel? Would it make the difference if you were using low octane (unleaded) and he was using high octane (premium unleaded)?

[DomWoo]

well i noticed 2 things that will lose power..

1 bad plug wires.. even if they are brand new they may not be made very well

2 no back pressure in the exhaust will result in a lose of power

[woo]

you mean the stock airbox/resonator setup actually made the car faster??

MMamdouh

the car seemed to have more power at low revs with the box, but above 5500 there was more power with the cone. Power above 5500 is useless because the car has to be able to get to those revs first

[MMamdouh]

Maybe it has to do with some kind of air pressure or something. This is an interesting thread already.

air pressure as in what?? tire air pressure? i doubt that has such significant effect

Do you have different wheels then he did? If your wheels are heavier then his, perhaps you're losing some of your torque there?

indeed i got different wheels on mine... i got 185/60/14 tires and 14" steel wheels that are 1 kgm heavier than the OEM 175/70/13 and 13" wheels that Zikas have on his wife's car... again does 4 extra kgms in total wheel weight make a 2 car length??

Also... does he use a different octane fuel? Would it make the difference if you were using low octane (unleaded) and he was using high octane (premium unleaded)?

we both use unleaded fuel, i got octane 92 on mine and he had 90... my car should have done better but it didn't.

MMamdouh

[MMamdouh]

you mean the stock airbox/resonator setup actually made the car faster??

MMamdouh

the car seemed to have more power at low revs with the box, but above 5500 there was more power with the cone. Power above 5500 is useless because the car has to be able to get to those revs first

i suppose this means my car will catch up then clame the lead if the road was longer and we had to go all the way to 6000 rpm at 4th and 5th gear... intresting idea worth testing some day.

i have just installed a cone filter... does this mean that my lower end torque will suffer even more?

MMamdouh

[JohnnyC]

Do you have different wheels then he did? If your wheels are heavier then his, perhaps you're losing some of your torque there?

indeed i got different wheels on mine... i got 185/60/14 tires and 14" steel wheels that are 1 kgm heavier than the OEM 175/70/13 and 13" wheels that Zikas have on his wife's car... again does 4 extra kgms in total wheel weight make a 2 car length??

Also... does he use a different octane fuel? Would it make the difference if you were using low octane (unleaded) and he was using high octane (premium unleaded)?

we both use unleaded fuel, i got octane 92 on mine and he had 90... my car should have done better but it didn't.

MMamdouh

Well... Here is one thing to consider... when you've got the heavier wheels, it means you're losing torque through every gear, all the way through. I don't know if it could lead to the 2 lengths, but it certainly would make a difference.

[Joso]

Removing the cat and the resonator may not be as a good idea as many of you think. Specially the cat. The car is designed to have that device, so if you take it out you car will be slower, will make a lot more noise, and the milleage will be a lot worse.

[Brian5475E]

I think your both slow! Just kidding I would love to race a Lanos someday. Just isn't any around here

[Audacity Racing]

the weight on the wheel difference would probably result in a 10ftlb reduction in torque over stock. add thet 10 to the 5-10 lost in the cat and you get a pretty large drop in torque considering your engine is ~100 ft pounds normally


i can see why he would beat you definitely

[Nubira2.2]

Removing the cat and the resonator may not be as a good idea as many of you think. Specially the cat. The car is designed to have that device, so if you take it out you car will be slower, will make a lot more noise, and the milleage will be a lot worse.

any proove ?

on my side i can say that cat and resonator removed and a MagNaflow muffler gaved me .4 sec. difference in the 1/4 mile

but i still got the first cat back then


right now with the 2.2 engine i have the first cat. striped down with the same 2 inch. exhaust with no other cat and resonator same magnaflow muffler and it feels good running 16.2 @ 82 mph

[Audacity Racing]

you have 700cc's more though

[Slammed]

Bring it over to CT I will give you a run LOL

I think your both slow! Just kidding I would love to race a Lanos someday. Just isn't any around here

I too agree that removing the cat would have made a big difference in the low end torq area when I had a v6 buick Regal I removed mine and lost all low end torq but had gained some great high end torq my end result was putting a high flow cat to regain 1/2 of my low end torq